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Stress

Certain amorphous concepts exist only in the theoretical realm: truth, justice, beauty. Time. Yet we “know” (or think we know) they’re there. Indeed, we’re the ones who manifest them. By observing, say, a ravishing Southern California sunset, or the blossoms of a cherry tree, or our lover’s face, we feel quite sure that Beauty is not merely an amorphous concept but something tangible and present. And in those moments it surely is.

Quantum physics suggests that this thing we call consciousness exists only in our Mind Reality, where we observe – and categorize and quantify – what seems to be the passage of time, our hurtling journey through space. In the Cosmic Reality, time does not trudge forward (or slip backwards). It just is.

Stress is one of these strange phenomena. It doesn’t really exist in any measurable form. We only know it’s there when someone tells us it’s there. Still, many of us are convinced that stress is a real and powerful thing, lurking, hovering, waiting to envelop us like solar radiation. We envision it as a kind of weight, a pressure that squeezes us with vise-like power, or as a kind of infection, a disease that eats us from the inside. Or a dark cloud that blots out life’s shine. Stress, we convince ourselves, is all around us, like air and light.

We labor mightily to relieve it. Many of us go out of our way to avoid it. Some of us thrive on it.

Few of us, though, acknowledge the essential nature of Stress, which is that it doesn’t actually exist until we manifest it. There is no such thing as Stress; there are only human beings pretending it exists.

Thought Of The Week

How low has the United States of America sunk? We’re in the process of negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran. Yes, negotiating, like, talking with.

Iran. Yes, that Iran. The country that once held Americans hostage. The country that fought against Saddam Hussein back when we liked him. The country that arms Hezbollah and Hamas. The same Iran that vows to wipe our dear regional friend Israel off the map.

Recent Thoughts

New Discoveries

“House Hour” is the second installment in the landmark “PoemJazz” collaboration between poet Robert Pinsky and pianist Laurence Hobgood. Everything that was good in the debut is even better here. Pinsky has mastered his instrument, transforming his voice from “peculiar” to “unique.” Hobgood’s musicality and virtuosity dazzles. And the production — the mix, the equalization, the...